Meet the Class of 2012 Whooping Cranes
Hatch-year 2012 of the Eastern Flock
Back to Meet the Cranes 2012
Aerial view of newly hatahed #W1-12 and parents
Photo: Eva Szyszkoski/ICF, with aerial support from Lighthawk		 Crane #W1-12
Date Hatched April 30, 2012
Gender Male
Left Leg Right Leg
 
 
(VHF radio transmitter)
 
 
 
 

 

Summer 2012: Crane chick #W1-12 was the first wild-hatched chick of the eastern flock's 2012 breeding season. The chick was photographed from the air by tracker Eva Szyszkoski on July 6:

Chick W1-12 with parents #212 and #419 on June 6, 2012.
Photo: Eva Szyszkoski/ICF, with aerial support from Lighthawk

Crane #W1-12 in October 2012
Whooping Crane #W1-12 on October 12, 2--12
Photo: Eva Szyszkoski, ICF

Fall 2012: He migrated south with parents #212 and #419. The family is shown below in Indiana in December 2012.

W1-12 and parents on migration stopover in December
Photo: Eva Szyszkoski, ICF
 
The parents did NOT continue migration to their usual winter territory in Pascoe County, Florida, but spent the winter in Indiana. The photo below was taken in February 2013 by Steve Smith. Female #419 at the left, chick #W1-12 in the middle, and father #212 on the right.
W1-12 with parents on wintering territory in February
Photo: Eva Szyszkoski, ICF
Steve Smith photographed the family again March 12 at Goose Pond fish and Wildlife Area in Greene County, Indiana. The cranes' leg bands identify them as #19-10 DAR, male #212 (12-02), female #419 (19-04) and offspring W1-12, now a subadult.
Four Whooping Cranes in Indiana in March
W1-12 and his morther, female #419 (19094), on March 12 at Goose Pond, Indiana.
W1-12 and his mother, #419, in Indiana in March 2013
Photo: Steve Smith

Spring 2013: Sub-adult #W1-12 completed migration back to the Wisconsin nesting grounds on April 2 with her parents. She was reported near, but not on, her parents territory by mid April when they were already sitting on a new nest.

 
Last updated: 4/20/13